April 27, 2020
Hello Yoga Friends,
Our online yoga resourcing and support for you continues. I hope you are giving yourself time and permission for self-care! Today’s post includes a whole lot of slowing down – enjoy. Feel free to try one or more of these ideas, or practice in sequence for your own personal yoga class at home.
1.Take your seat: Grounding meditation:
In this 17 minute soothing guided meditation, we have a user-friendly practice that also offers takeaways about posture, breath, noticing, and self-kindness. Take a floor seat or modify to sit in a chair. Please find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0nZ1ZLephQ.
2.Breath focus:
In this 4 minute video we learn a simple and effective technique to shift the body from a stress response to a relaxation response.
Please try this! and find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQjGqtH-2YI
3.Warm up: standing joint warm-up:
If you’ve been to any of the Stilly Valley Health Connections gentle yoga classes, you’ll probably recall this one. Begin standing with feet a comfortable distance apart. Stay mindful and connected to your attention on each body part. Begin with the feet, and rotate one ankle in each direction, then switch sides. Then bend your knees, place a hand lightly on each knee cap and warm up the knee caps by making a few circles with the palm of the hand. Move on to the hips, with a few hip circles in each direction. Now the waist: let your arms swing to the left, and then to the right a few times in each direction, to create a gentle twist in the waist. Now move on to swinging the arms in big figure 8’s, a few in each direction. Next, take a side stretch by lifting both arms high. Place your left hand around your right wrist and gently stretch your right arm to create a side bend. Feel free to add on by bending your left leg a little as you step your right leg back a bit. Feel the whole right side in a gentle stretch. Repeat this side stretch ‘banana pose’ on the other side. This standing joint warm-up practice leads very nicely into the next pose, mountain pose.
4. Foundation pose: mountain pose:
A standing, stable and grounding pose, here is a detailed 8 minute tutorial and practice on some of the subtle aspects of mountain pose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvBfA5TKjYQ.
Once you have found your mountain pose, feel free to move into standing mountain meditation, with eyes closed, and notice your inner experience.
5. Spring detox theme:
a) Health tip from yoga’s sister science of ayurveda medicine: find out about the benefits of dry skin brushing, and how to do it here: https://www.banyanbotanicals.com/info/blog-the-banyan-insight/details/what-is-ayurvedic-dry-massage-and-why-you-should-try-it/.
b) Detox yoga pose: Find the lying down twist from the yin yoga class, below, at the 33 minute mark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4O2yxfNSwU.
6. Guided gentle yoga class: 45 minute yin yoga for slower, deeper stretching and stress release:
Grab a blanket or beach towel to set up for this class. The theme is ‘Yin Yoga for Uncertainty’ and it gives extra support to the gall bladder meridian and digestive organs which are also a spring cleanse focus. Find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4O2yxfNSwU. If you want to skip some of the deeper stretches earlier in the video, go to 33 minutes for the side twist (use a pillow to support your legs in the twist if you like) and final relaxation pose. Another option is to go to 41 minutes for just the lovely guided final relaxation pose.
7. Intention:
Take a moment to create an intention or focus to take with you into the rest of your day or evening. What focus or just one word will support you at this time? I’m drawn to ‘breathe’, ‘space’ and ‘peace’.
8. Namaste:
And finally, let us take a bow to each other, and to each one on the planet. Namaste: the divine light of consciousness in me honors the divine light of consciousness in you.
Thank you for tuning in to this yoga moment, and blessings to you and your loved ones,
Heather Harmony
